₦airaland Forum

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OUTRAGE: Woman Loses Her 7months old Pregnancy After Lebanese Boss Kicked Her Belly In Lagos

.A 34-year-old woman, Mrs. Alexandra Ossai, has accused her Lebanese boss, Kaveh Noine, of causing her to lose her seven-month-pregnancy after he kicked her in the stomach.
Currently at a private hospital in the Fagba area of Lagos State, Ossai had to have an emergency surgery four days after the kick to save her life as the kick damaged her placenta.

According to Punch, Ossai, who until December 13, 2013, was a supervisor with a Lebanese owned firm, Toppan Printing Company, alleged that Noine assaulted her many times during her eight months stay at the company.
She said:

“I started working at Toppan in April. I earn N17,000 salary and work from Monday to Saturday. Anytime Noine was annoyed, he would beat the person he was angry with. Sometimes, he would throw whatever he can lay his hands on at the person.
Prior to that incident, Noine had slapped me many times.
Noine had said he would hold me responsible for the shortcomings of the people I supervised. As a result, I often assisted my subordinates in their duties to make sure that Noine had nothing to complain about.”

However, Ossai said on December 12 2013, Noine had flown into a rage when he noticed something on the floor in her section.

“It was a container for a drug. That is what we do; we produce packets for drugs and perfumes. So when Noine saw one of such packets on the floor, he was so angry that he gave me a blow to the chest,” she recalled.

She said Noine subsequently went into his office and typed a termination letter for Ossai, which she refused to sign.
Her refusal allegedly enraged him further and after verbally abusing her, he was said to have told her that it was her last warning.
The following day, Ossai ran into Noine while coming from his secretary’s office. Noine allegedly dragged Ossai back to the office and called her a wicked woman.
Ossai said:


“He said I looked like a mad person. After abusing me, he hit me on my neck twice. Then, without warning, he kicked my stomach with his knee. Some co-workers were there but they did not intervene. I felt a sharp pain in my stomach.”

The mother of one, whose younger brother and sister also worked in the same company, said she prevailed on her siblings not to attack Noine when they heard the news.

I never for once told my husband what I was going through at work. I didn’t want him to come and fight Noine. I pleaded with my siblings not to fight,” Ossai said.

Although the pains eventually subsided after two days, it was learnt that in the early hours of Monday, Decemeber 16, 2013, Ossai began to bleed.
She was rushed to a private clinic at Fagba.
She was told that her placenta had been damaged as a result of the kick and that she had to undergo emergency surgery to save her life.
She said:

“I didn’t know that my baby had died until two days after the surgery. I was told my baby lost his face too due to the kick.”

She said a report was made at the Area F police command the following day by her aunt, Mrs. Olabisi Jaiyeoba.
Jaiyeoba said:

When Ossai’s husband and I were refused entry into the company, we went to report to the police. They accompanied us there and even had to force their way in. The administrative manager lied that Noine had travelled out of the country. But as of that Tuesday, he was still in the country.
It was later that we learned that he travelled last Friday.”

Efforts to get a response from the Deputy Manager of Toppan printing Company, Mr. Abass Al-Souki, proved abortive as his phone number indicated that it was unreachable.
However, the admin manager, who declined to identify herself, told PUNCH Metro that the factory was closed for the Christmas holidays.
She said:

We closed for the holidays last Friday and would reopen on January 8 2013. I would not like to speak on that matter because it is already with the police. Also our company lawyer is on it. You can only get across to our management in January 2014.”

Legal counsel for Toppan, Mrs. Nnebe, said that she could not comment on the matter.
She said:

“It would be best if you wait for the police to conclude their investigation. Ossai has only made an allegation. Let the police finish their investigation and then we would give our response.

The Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Ngozi Braide, said:

“The incident which occurred on Thursday was not reported to the police until Tuesday. It took about five days before it was reported. So when the police arrived at the suspect’s workplace, they were informed that he had traveled. It took a long time for the complainant to report the matter. But we are investigating.”

http://naourown.com/

THIS IS WHAT A GUY WROTE TO A SYSTEM ANALYST;







Dear Systems Department,



I am desperate for some help! I recently upgraded my

program from "Girlfriend 7.0" to "Wifey 1.0" and found

that the new program began unexpected child Processing

and also took up a lot of space and valuable

resources.









This wasn't mentioned in the product brochure.







In addition "Wifey 1.0" Installs itself into all other

programs and launches during systems Initialization

and then it monitors all other system activities.







Applications such as "Boys' Night out 2.5" and "Golf

5.3" no longer Run, and crashes the system whenever

selected. Attempting to operate Selected "Saturday

Rugby 6.3" always fails and "Saturday Shopping 7.1"

runs instead.







I cannot seem to keep "Wifey 1.0" in the background,

whilst attempting to run any of my favourite

applications. Be it online or offline.







I am thinking of going back to "Girlfriend7. 0", but

uninstall doesn't work on this program. Can you please

help?










........... AND THIS WHAT THE ANALYST SAID;



Dear Customer,



This is a very common problem resulting from a

basic

misunderstanding of the functions of the "Wifey1.0"

program.







Many customers upgrade from "Girlfriend 7.0" to "Wifey

1.0" thinking that "Wifey 1.0" is merely a UTILITY

AND ENTERTAINMENT PROGRAM.







Actually, "Wifey 1.0" is an OPERATING SYSTEM designed

by it's Creator to Run everything.







You are unlikely to be able to purge "Wifey 1.0" and

still convert back to "Girlfriend 7.0", as "Wifey 1.0"

was not designed to do this and it is Impossible to

uninstall, delete or purge the program files from the

System once it is installed.







Some people have tried to install "Girlfriend 8.0" or

"Wifey 2.0" but have ended up with even more

problems. (See manual under Alimony/Child

Support and Solicitors' Fees).







Having " Wifey 1.0" installed, I recommend you keep

it installed And deal with the difficulties as best as

you can. When any faults

or problems Occur, whatever

you think has caused them, you must run the



C:\APOLOGIZE\ FORGIVE ME Program



and avoid attempting to use the *Esc-Key for it will

freeze the entire system.







It may be necessary to run C:\APOLOGIZE\ FORGIVE ME

for a number of times, and eventually hope that the

operating system will return to normal.







"Wifey 1.0", although a very high maintenance program,

can be very rewarding.







To get the most out of it, consider buying additional

Software such as "Flowers 2.0" and "Chocolates 5.0"

or "HUGS\KISSES 600.0" or "TENDERNESS \UNDERSTANDING 1000.0", or even "Eating Out Without the Kids 7.2.1" (if child processing has already started).







DO NOT under any circumstances install "Secretary 2.1"

(Short Skirt Version) or "One Nightstand 3.2" (Any

Mood Version), as this is not a supported Application

for "Wifey 1.0" and the system

will almost certainly

CRASH.



BEST OF LUCK!



Your Systems Analyst,

I think Abati is dead alive!

She married him today.
At the end of the wedding party, her mother gave her a newly opened bank savings passbook, with $1000 deposited in it.
She told her, "My dear daughter, take this passbook. Keep it as a record of your married life. Whenever something happy and memorable happens in your new life, put some money in. Write down what it's about next to the amount. The more memorabl
e the event is, the more money you can put in. I've done the first one for you today. Do the others with your husband. When you look back after years, you will know how much happiness you've both shared.'

She shared this with him after getting home. Both of them thought it was a great idea and couldn't wait to make the next deposit! This is what the passbook looked like after a while:

- 7 Feb: $100, his first birthday celebration after marriage
- 1 Mar: $300, she gets a salary raise
- 20 Mar: $200, vacation to Bali
- 15 Apr: $2000, She's pregnant!
- 1 Jun: $1000, He gets the big promotion
and so on...

However, as the years went by, they began fighting and arguing over trivial things. They didn't talk much. They regretted that they had married the most nasty person in the world...There was no more love.
One day she talked to her Mother. 'Mom, we can't stand it anymore. We have decided to divorce. I can't imagine how I decided to marry this guy!'

Her mother replied, 'Sure, that's no big deal. Just do whatever you want, if you really can't stand it. But before that, do one thing. Remember the savings passbook I gave you on your wedding day? Take out all money and spend it first. You shouldn't keep any record of such a poor marriage.'

She agreed with her. So she went to the bank, and was waiting in the queue to cancel the account. While she was waiting, she took a look at the passbook record. She looked, and looked, and looked. Then the memory of all the previous joyful moments came back to her. Her eyes were filled with tears. She left and went home.

When she got home, she handed the passbook to him and asked him to spend the money before getting divorced.

So the next day, he went to the bank, and was waiting in the queue to cancel the account. While he was waiting, he took a look at the passbook record. He looked, and looked, and looked. Then the memory of all the previous joyful moments came back to him. His eyes were filled with tears. He left and went home.

He gave the passbook back to her. She found a new deposit of $5000. And a line next to the record: 'This is the day I realized how much I've loved you throughout all these years. How much happiness you've brought me.'

They hugged and cried, putting the passbook back into the safe.

If you like this story then from now on give a print out of this story to every couple who is getting married or just getting into a relationship along with a nice notebook to record their happy times...who know you may just be able to help them !! —

Hit like & share to married couples whom you care.

A 40-year old widow who simply identified herself as Mujidat was caught on Wednesday with a dead day old baby she hid inside a sack around her residence at 2, Reverend Alimi Street, NEPA Phase I, Ijagemo in Iba Local Council Development Area of Lagos State. P.M.NEWS learnt that a member of the community, High Chief Babatunde Balogun caught the mother of seven when she was trying to dispose the baby at about 5 p.m. on Wednesday. When questioned on the content of the sack, she claimed she was coming from the market where she bought some household items. However, on a closer look, Balogun discovered that the sack contained a dead day old baby the woman allegedly had just delivered. He then called the attention of the other residents. Neighbours told P.M.NEWS that after Mujidat’s husband known as Baba Mushin died about three years ago, they have seen men visiting her residence, the house built by her late husband. When asked if she planned to throw away the baby because of an alleged paternity mess, she denied, claiming that a welder turned block maker near her residence was responsible for the pregnancy that resulted in the birth of the dead baby she was caught with. She claimed she took delivery of the baby by herself because she found it easy and therefore did not go to any hospital or sought anybody’s help. At about 9 p.m yesterday when P.M.NEWS visited the area, residents of the area were still milling around the residence of the woman. Officials of the Community Development Association, CDA, in the area later accompanied the woman and her sack of baby to the Isheri-Oshun Police Division where the matter was reported. At the time of this report, the woman was still being interrogated.
http://www./tragic-news-40-years-old-widow-caught-wi.xhtml

It seems Naija women with light skin really love money, big money...
Barely 6 months after assuming office as the Director General of Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation (NTDC), Mrs Sally Uwechue-Mbanefo is swimming in the murky waters of corruption.

Along with some top officials of the agency, Sally is being investigated for an alleged N270m fraud. And this time, the case has reached such an extent that anti-corruption agency, the EFCC has invited and questioned all parties involved.



Insiders revealed "the new D.G and her agents are so embroiled in the matter that, they were only allowed to leave the office of the EFCC based on administrative bail".

A travel ban slammed on 'them' as investigations continues. The 'official' car of one of the accused identified as 'the C.S.O' was reportedly impounded till circumstances surrounding its acquisition are cleared.

The case against Mrs Mbanefo and others centres on illegal manouevering in 'allocating budgets', approving expenditures'.


An insider is said to have discovered the anomaly and petitioned the EFCC with supporting evidences. Six top staffers of the NTDC - including the D.G and the 'C.S.O' - are involved in the ongoing case.

Mbanefo, a former banker and top staffer of Lafarge Cement Wapco Nig Plc assumed her present post in May 2013.

The National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE) has directed its members to withdraw their services from all installations in the event of further provocation by armed military personnel desperate to take over PHCN installations.

A statement signed by the Secretary General of the Union, Mr. Joe Ajaero, said the plan of the federal government to hand over the power assets negated the agreement it reached with the union to resolve all outstanding labour issues.

Mr. Ajaero insisted that the gratuity payment the government made was only 68 per cent complete and no member of the union has had their pension contributions transferred into their retirement savings accounts.

He said “those that retired from service since 2011 have not received their benefits totaling about N19bn. The differences of the shortfall of the terminal benefits from June 30, 2012 till date have not been considered for payment.

“The biometrically captured and considered casuals’ appointment has not been addressed. The question of 10 per cent equity shareholding (in the companies) by the workers as statutorily provided has not been given attention.

While we appreciate and sympathise with the core investors, we ask for their understanding and that of the Nigerian public in our pursuit to ensure a seamless transition. We are resolute on receiving every kobo owed us as we are sure such liabilities will not be borne by the new investors unless there is a commitment to that effect from them.”

This threat is coming barely 24 hours before the federal government hands over the Power Holding Company of Nigeria will be handed over to their new owners.

Meanwhile, the permanent secretary in the Ministry of Power, Ambassador Godknows Igali, has said that there’s no justification for a strike because the federal government has made significant progress in the payment of the disengaged workers, with over 40,000 out of the 47,913 identified fully paid.
http://www.channelstv.com/home/2013/10/31/electiricity-union-directs-members-to-down-tools/

Britain is set to become the first non-Muslim country to sell a bond that can be bought by Islamic investors in a bid to encourage massive new investment into the City.


David Cameron will say in a speech on Tuesday at the World Islamic Economic Forum in London that the Treasury is drawing up plans to issue a £200m Sukuk, a form of debt that complies with Islamic financial law.


The new sharia-compliant gilt will enable Britain to become the first non-Muslim country to tap the growing pool of Islamic investments that is forecast to top £1.3 trillion by next year.


The Prime Minister will say that it would be a “mistake” to miss the opportunity to encourage more Islamic investment in the UK and that the City of London should rival Dubai as a centre for sharia-compliant finance.


“When Islamic finance is growing 50pc faster than traditional banking and when global Islamic investments are set to grow to £1.3 trillion by 2014, we want to make sure a big proportion of that new investment is made here in Britain,” Mr Cameron will tell an audience of senior officials from Islamic countries

Among those at the meeting are Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah of Brunei, King Abdullah of Jordan, Afghan president Hamid Karzai and Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, Crown Prince of Bahrain.

The World Islamic Economic Forum has never been held before in a non-Muslim country and highlights the growing role London is playing in the Islamic finance industry.

The London Stock Exchange is preparing to launch an Islamic Market Index to help the managers of sharia-compliant funds identify new investment opportunities.

The UK’s plans to issue its own Sukuk could lead to billions of pounds of British gilts being sold to Islamic investors, enabling the Treasury to diversify away from its traditional sources of funding.

“For years people have been talking about creating an Islamic bond – or Sukuk – outside the Islamic world, but it’s just never quite happened,” Mr Cameron will say. “Changing that is a question of pragmatism and political will. And here in Britain we’ve got both.

To comply with sharia law, Islamic investors are forbidden to receive interest. Sukuks avoid this problem by ensuring the fixed return investors receive on the debt is linked to the profit generated by an underlying asset.

The value of Sukuks already listed on the London market has reached $34bn (£21bn) over the past five years with nearly 50 bonds quoted by the London Stock Exchange.

Sharia-compliant funds have already been used to fund some of the capital’s largest developments, including the Shard and the Olympic Village.

More than 20 banks currently offer Islamic financial products and services in the UK, more than any other Western country, with the number expected to grow further.

The Government has put securing links with growing financial centres in Islamic countries and fast-growing Asian markets at the heart of its plans for the City.

Earlier this month the Chancellor, George Osborne, announced a deal with China to make London a leading centre for the growing trade in renminbi-denominated assets and to make it easier for Chinese banks to set up investment banking operations.

Source:http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/banksandfinance/10410467/Britain-to-become-first-non-Muslim-country-to-launch-sharia-bond.html

Britain is set to become the first non-Muslim country to sell a bond that can be bought by Islamic investors in a bid to encourage massive new investment into the City.


David Cameron will say in a speech on Tuesday at the World Islamic Economic Forum in London that the Treasury is drawing up plans to issue a £200m Sukuk, a form of debt that complies with Islamic financial law.


The new sharia-compliant gilt will enable Britain to become the first non-Muslim country to tap the growing pool of Islamic investments that is forecast to top £1.3 trillion by next year.


The Prime Minister will say that it would be a “mistake” to miss the opportunity to encourage more Islamic investment in the UK and that the City of London should rival Dubai as a centre for sharia-compliant finance.


“When Islamic finance is growing 50pc faster than traditional banking and when global Islamic investments are set to grow to £1.3 trillion by 2014, we want to make sure a big proportion of that new investment is made here in Britain,” Mr Cameron will tell an audience of senior officials from Islamic countries

Among those at the meeting are Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah of Brunei, King Abdullah of Jordan, Afghan president Hamid Karzai and Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, Crown Prince of Bahrain.

The World Islamic Economic Forum has never been held before in a non-Muslim country and highlights the growing role London is playing in the Islamic finance industry.

The London Stock Exchange is preparing to launch an Islamic Market Index to help the managers of sharia-compliant funds identify new investment opportunities.

The UK’s plans to issue its own Sukuk could lead to billions of pounds of British gilts being sold to Islamic investors, enabling the Treasury to diversify away from its traditional sources of funding.

“For years people have been talking about creating an Islamic bond – or Sukuk – outside the Islamic world, but it’s just never quite happened,” Mr Cameron will say. “Changing that is a question of pragmatism and political will. And here in Britain we’ve got both.

To comply with sharia law, Islamic investors are forbidden to receive interest. Sukuks avoid this problem by ensuring the fixed return investors receive on the debt is linked to the profit generated by an underlying asset.

The value of Sukuks already listed on the London market has reached $34bn (£21bn) over the past five years with nearly 50 bonds quoted by the London Stock Exchange.

Sharia-compliant funds have already been used to fund some of the capital’s largest developments, including the Shard and the Olympic Village.

More than 20 banks currently offer Islamic financial products and services in the UK, more than any other Western country, with the number expected to grow further.

The Government has put securing links with growing financial centres in Islamic countries and fast-growing Asian markets at the heart of its plans for the City.

Earlier this month the Chancellor, George Osborne, announced a deal with China to make London a leading centre for the growing trade in renminbi-denominated assets and to make it easier for Chinese banks to set up investment banking operations.

Source:http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/banksandfinance/10410467/Britain-to-become-first-non-Muslim-country-to-launch-sharia-bond.html

Nigeria's former Chief of General Staff, Vice Admiral Mike Akhigbe, is dead. He was 68. Akhigbe, whose position in the Armed Forces Ruling Council (AFRC), headed by Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar, made him the military vice-president in the government that return Nigeria to democracy in 1999, died at the weekend in England.

It was gathered that Akhigbe had been battling with cancer for some time before his appointment as the chief of general staff, following the death of the then Head of State, Gen. Sani Abacha, in 1998.


After his retirement from the Force, Akhigbe went to read law and became an attorney with specialisation in Maritime and Real Estate Law. He was a seasoned businessman with substantial interests in real estate.

Akhigbe attended the Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA), Royal Naval School of Maritime Operations Dryad, Southwick the United Kingdom, Command and Staff College Jaji, National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS) Kuru and University of Poitiers, Rouan, France.

May his soul rest in peace. Amen

http://www.olufamous.com/2013/10/breaking-news-ex-vice-president-mike.

>

[quote author=Chima_Adeoye][size=16pt]EXACTLY!
They want Stella hanged for bogus crimes cooked up by a faceless online website; sahara-reporters. They tried to blame her for Agagu plane crash,but forensic report showed the pilots were arguing because one pilot told the other not to take off because of warning lights on the plane showing the plane was not fit to fly. So now they cooked up another story about her buying BMW for herself.
But they and their people won't let EFCC or other constitutionally mandated federal agencies to investigate the bogus allegation if there was truly any corrupt enrichment on the part of the minister in the said procurement of bullet proof vehicles, a deal she did not even sign!

Do not be deceived by their antics, Hon. Stella Oduah's true crime is that she dared to improve the aviation sector which people from a certain section of the country have bastardized and choked in a strangle hold.

Those tribalist people in their malicious plot against Nigeria had killed Nigeria Airways and killed Air Nigeria. Those people from a certain section of the country frustrated the deal with Virgin Atlantic. All these was done to maintain the strangle hold monopoly to compel all foreign airlines to only use Lagos airport as only point of entry into Nigeria.

Recall that it took heaven and earth to allow Lufthansa & Air France to fly into Port Harcourt, inspite of PH hosting our oil industry. The previous yoruba aviation ministers had strangely insisted that Lufthansa and Air France end their international flight at Lagos airport and the bulk of the passengers who are international oil workers and expatriates can use local airlines to fly into Port Harcourt Intl. !

It took the intervention of the Niger Delta militants that exposed the ultimate yoruba plot to move the oil industry based in Port Harcourt to Lagos, for those evil men to drop their plot to kill PH International airport and the oil industry it serves because they believed it would threaten Lagos airport's viability.
Their compromise was that flights must first come to Lagos airport before it is allowed to take international oil workers PH intl. airport. A senseless process that still makes flying to PH international from Europe a very very expensive enterprise. Indeed, the long protocol of getting to Port Harcourt have forced international oil companies to maintain a Lagos office for operational reasons of dealing with international VIP investors who do not physically need to be subjected to the stress of first shuttling around Nigeria just to get to Port Harcourt.

Princess Stella Oduah had not only worked against all their obstacles and subterfuge to achieve President Jonathan's pledge to finally upgrade the Akanu Ibiam Intl. Airport,Enugu into a true international airport, but also she threatened their monopoly by the planned introduction of a new National carrier ! For this, she must be given a bad name in order to be hanged. Poor useless people that imagine other Nigerians are so dumb to see through their pretenses and wicked plot.

[/size][/quote]That is a sick man talking

All hail the King of Yaba Left

Tolexander: what does this mean?

Loved by all nigerians expect the hausa and yorubas?


Man, you've fallen prey of these;

Fallacy of hasty generalization!

fallacy of unwarranted assumption!

Irrelevant conclusion!

Argumentum ad misericordiam

fallacy of false presumption.

Argumentum ad podium.

if you kill person you go carry am
this guy no go fit sleep ooo

Tera Kota Lamentation of Sodom

tellwisdom: Bad things like??

Your evil intension

sweetpoison: Who are “his people” ?

Those who believe in One God.

While some Nigerians are still busy complaining over the statement credited to US Senator Ted Cruz about is ranting on yahoo boys in Nigeria, another Nigerian, identified as Ejiogu, has brought us shame.

Ejiogu who was arrested at Vietnam’s Tan Son Nhat Airport, after arriving from Thailand, with drugs found in 19 nylon bags hidden in a battery charger, has been sentenced to death by a court in the country.


During interrogation, Ejiogu claimed that he was asked by a man to carry some goods...
The goods, he claimed, were in the 19 nylon and the battery charger to Vietnam for him, adding that he did not know there were drugs inside. But he couldn't provide any information of the said man in court.


What a sad way for this young Nigerian to end his life!
http://www.olufamous.com/2013/10/a-nigerian-ejiogu-sentenced-to-death-in.html#more

Hey guys this is a very laudable move.

When next we are having our ALUMNAI meeting I will publish the date and time here. if you are in Lagos you are freeeeee to attend it does not matter if your still in school or not...

The venue is always behind Mary Land shopping Complex Mary Land.

tomakint: ...and this is the same railing system Obj couldn't fix for good 8 years yet he has the effrontery to attempt a third term agenda and now the one they called clueless, fisherman, Jonathan has given hope to a moribund sector even building some from the scratch while these same gremlins who called him all sorts of names will be part of the beneficiaries of these laudable projects! Goodluck Ebele Jonathan is indeed a 'Child of Destiny'!

Senator Smart Adeyemi in his speech said he was delighted at the huge progress recorded in the implementation of the rail project by the Bala Mohammed Administration principally because the project touches on critical needs of the ordinary people...


This is an FCT project not FG
FG promised Metro and your clueless, Fisherman, Jonathan and just to help you Odechukwu will not deliver all he does is fresh mess.

For all the people who made these possible...may almighty Allah be with you in terms of your need and by his grace you will never lack...Thank you and thank you...I love you all.

Read Dele Momodu's Trillion Naira Letter To Jonathan

Your Excellency, I’m compelled to write you again today since I don’t have any other form of access to deliver this to you. I’m also not sure you read the other open letters I have written to you, especially ‘My Kobo Advise to Mr President’. If you did I hope that you digested the content and pondered on them as I expected you would. My doubts are due to your continued actions.

You must be wondering why I have chosen the present title. The reason is not far-fetched.
Since my Kobo advice seems not to have resonated with you and your aides, and our budgets are now quoted in trillions, this title is ostensibly symbolic and truly emblematic of our latest craze and propensity for mentioning figures that most calculators won’t be able to evaluate.

The decision to write this latest epistle was reached after watching the bizarre movie that was acted by your fellow party men and produced by very senior directors of your seemingly formidable political organisation. Let me confess that no scriptwriter would have visualised such melodrama on any regular day. If anyone had ever suggested that such a humiliating scenario would occur we would have dismissed it as a product of a cruel imagination or lunacy. But we saw this one before our very eyes and became stupefied to say the least.

Let me assure you, Sir that it is in the nature of politics and politicians for such brickbats to occur. We must thank God for little mercies because we are lucky in these parts that citizens don’t pelt their leaders with rotten eggs and juicy tomatoes. You would remember that someone once threw shoes, javelin-like, at President George Bush during a Press conference and his face could have been badly bruised and readily bloodied but for the fact that his reflexes were superbly efficient and automatically responsive.

It is for this reason that I wish you can put the matter behind you as quickly as possible and forgive even if you cannot forget. It is sad that you apparently did not envisage the tragedy that was going to befall your party and tear your members asunder. Those of us on the side-lines knew it was a matter of time before the implosion would ignite and ricochet across the land like an Iraqi bomb. The collapse of a party that had held Nigeria by the jugular for the past 14 years was destined to carry some collateral damage with it.

If you and your aides were politically savvy, you probably would have managed the situation better. And if the truth must be told, most of strategists you parade are nothing but tyros who know little or nothing about the complexities that make up Nigeria. They sit in their gilded cage of Aso Rock and forget you are inhabitants of the place today through the sheer trickery of providence and convoluted collaboration of godfathers.

If your kitchen cabinet understood the rudiments of politics, they would have hopefully averted this monumental disaster by avoiding a war they were bound to lose before it even started. They allowed you to be messed up and tossed around due to their gross incompetence and pomposity. Your rabid supporters are behaving like the peacock or to be more precise like the soldiers of fortune that most political jobbers are often are in Nigeria. Pity is they still can see the handwriting on the wall nor decipher the code of grand conspiracy that is so palpable. They are gloating all over the place and deluding themselves about the power of life and death which you wield as the Nigerian President. But a power misused is a power wasted. Reality is not all wars are won through the use of force or violence.

I will now go ahead to highlight some of the terminal mistakes made by your embattled camp and juxtapose with what I consider to be the practical solutions to these humongous problems. Whether we like former President Olusegun Obasanjo or not he’s a man who truly believes in the unity of Nigeria. I cannot but be very charitable to him on this occasion. As a man who played a crucial role during the Nigerian civil war, I believe this has made him permanently paranoid and terminally neurotic about the likelihood of Nigeria ever breaking up in his lifetime or even thereafter. Obasanjo was therefore the one man God used to make it possible for an Ijawman to ultimately become the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Nigerian Armed Forces.

It is no longer relevant or important to us if Obasanjo did what he did genuinely out of love for the so-called minorities to have a chance or for very personal and selfish reasons. Even if his decision to install as President and Vice President a sickly Alhaji Umaru Yar’Adua and a taciturn Dr Goodluck Jonathan is turning dangerously pyrrhic, credit must still go to Baba Iyabo that he fulfilled all righteousness by handing power to you through the backdoor, thus empowering you to grab the chicken that lays the golden eggs that we all savour today. The essence of this unusual but objective hagiography on Obasanjo today is that you should have done everything humanly possible to tolerate and accommodate his human foibles and overt idiosyncrasies.

The costliest mistake you ever made was to have allowed your relationship with a veteran of many wars to degenerate to the level fisticuffs or what the Yoruba call ‘roforofo’. It is a battle you can’t afford to fight because you have no chance of winning it at the end of the day. Please try and tell those illusionists who typically swarm around the corridors of power like locusts that if they have forgotten how God brought you to the pinnacle of the temple, your memory and gratitude are intact. And that you will never encourage Lucifer to send you on a kamikaze dive.

The second mistake was the manner your acolytes exposed your second term bid prematurely. It was totally unnecessary. As an African, you must be aware of the adage that a wise man always keeps the name of his impending baby to himself until after his wife delivers. The manner they’ve been threatening hellfire and brimstone if you don’t secure a second term has been very rude, crude and outlandishly provocative. No Jupiter can stop you from running if you so desire and eventually decide to try your luck again. It is true that you promised to serve only one term but it is still entirely your privilege and prerogative to change your mind. That can’t be a crime because we all do it most of the time. It is also your Constitutional right and you should not have been lured into dissipating some badly-needed energy on useless rigmarole and semantics.

Sir, if I were you I would have concentrated rigidly and passionately on delivering the dividends of democracy by making life better for the generality of Nigerians. Your greatest armour against real and imagined enemies is performance. If you can make conscious effort to curb the wasteful ostentation and the obsession for pomp and pageantry ascribed to your office I’m certain even your vociferous critics would become your assiduous fanatics. What you have advertently done by abandoning governance on the altar of pecuniary politics is to allow your common enemies to gang-up and have enough time to mobilise their war-chest, assemble their arsenal and fire their long-range missiles.

The third mistake is the commonest in all wars known to mankind. You opened up your flanks by fighting too many people on too many fronts. Only a poor General does that. In the haste to crush the rebellion of some of your former foot-soldiers as well as your implacable enemies, you got sucked in because you were stupendously engaged in too many directions. This was bound to take its toll on you and your combatants. Coupled with that was the obvious fact that you underrated your opponents. That is usually a regrettable strategy in guerrilla warfare.

It should have been clear to you that you had to employ a new, even if temporary, modus operandi once the Governors loyal to you were soundly and roundly beaten by the Amaechi supporters. If I were you Sir, I would have made a tactical withdrawal by sticking to the lie that I knew nothing about the Nigeria Governors Forum crisis and maintain my straight poker face. I would have reassessed the efficacy of those who sold the dummy that all was well but could not deliver the goods after fallen jejunely for the scam of collecting some fake signatures. What I expected you to do was to accept the temporary defeat with equanimity and invite Rotimi Amaechi into a room and embrace him warts and all. You seemed to have done this at Port Harcourt Airport and expected you build on that window of opportunity. I was one of those who saluted your statesmanship on that occasion but was sorely disappointed when you allowed the opportunists to send you back to the trenches.

I still don’t know who subsequently persuaded you to fall for the self-immolating decision to continue to recognise the Jang faction when it was obvious the man lost the election fair and square. That was the moment you lost all moral authority and rights by allowing some political adventurers to drag you down the depths of their abject pettiness. You should have borrowed a leaf from Obasanjo’s experience with the once powerful Atiku Abubakar who controlled the Governors and practically brought the former President on his knees begging for support. As a veteran soldier, Obasanjo was sufficiently trained in the art and science of tactical retreat. The crafty General knows that he who fights and runs away lives to fight another day.

The example of Obasanjo’s strategic cowardice was very instructive and opulently didactic. As he told everyone who cared to listen: what Atiku did was tantamount to pulling out a loaded gun and pointing it at his head. He knew it was no use arguing with a man who could pull the trigger in a mere matter of seconds. The only option left was to use the power of native intelligence and foxiness by persuading the man not to commit premeditated murder. Once Atiku made the error of pitying his supposed prey and showing mercy, he became a dead man walking himself. Same goes for James Ibori who walked into a similar trap.

Sir, though your case is slightly different it still bears some resemblance to that of Obasanjo. Your infantry men wasted all your bullets without catching an antelope not to talk of capturing elephants, the king of the forests. You should have wooed Amaechi to your side at all cost because he was apparently equal to all your own combined forces. A hunter should always be proud of a brave son. You can do with a few guys like that in the days of tribulation. It is noteworthy that Governors control their states. How do you hope to secure your second term ambition if you control less than half of the states in the country? What is more, Amaechi is capable of delivering one of the largest votes to you from Rivers State or conversely waste most of it if he decides to be vengeful.

Finally, I wish to assure you Sir that it is not an act of timidity to seek peace and tranquillity in a country where everything seems to be going haywire. Whosoever tells you to unleash terror and mayhem on your enemies is not a true friend. Elections are won as a game of figures. The candidate who is able to attract the largest number of voters becomes electable. Rigging may never work like it used to due to several developments in the world. The New Media, otherwise known as Social Media, is breaking down walls of intimidation and oppression. Telephony and the internet combined have become more lethal than most conventional weapons. At the touch of buttons, many wonders can instantly unfold and make it possible to monitor occurrences in distant places. There is also the human factor, like the case of that Kwara man who rejected the fake election that awarded him victory when he knew in his heart that he lost. Mass education is beginning to change how we do many things even if slowly.

Your best bet is to stay on the path of honour, peace, equity, justice and unimpeachable truth. God has been too kind to you. Even if you return to your village today, you have enjoyed what no one has ever attained before which is being permanently in power and high positions since coming into relevance and prominence from relative obscurity. There is nothing more to add. If you work harder on a few of the content of your Transformation Agenda, you may easily end up as a hero. Getting a second term if you stay lucky will then be icing on your national cake. You don’t need all this stress and blackmail in the name of seeking what is not necessarily glorious. I read somewhere that a man is powerful when he controls power and powerless when power controls him. The choice is yours.

Sir, permit me to conclude with a powerful Yoruba proverb: when we are praying not to be put to shame but the prayer is not instantly answered we should start praying that God should at least keep us alive.

This is my story. This is my song.


By Dele Momodu

"In 1987, a 74-year old rickshaw puller by the name of Bai Fangli came back to his hometown planning to retire from his backbreaking job. There, he saw children working in the fields, because they were too poor to afford school fees.

Bai returned to Tianjin and went back to work as a rickshaw puller, taking a modest accommodation next to the railway station. He waited for clients 24 hours a day, ate simple food and wore discarded second-hand clothes he found. He gave all of his hard-earned earnings to support children who could not afford education.

In 2001, he drove his rickshaw to Tianjin YaoHua Middle School, to deliver his last installment of money. Nearly 90 years old, he told the students that he couldn't work any more. All of the students and teachers were moved to tears.

In total, Bai had donated a total of 350,000 yuan to help more than 300 poor students continue with their studies. In 2005, Bai passed away leaving behind an inspiring legacy.

If a rickshaw-puller who wore used clothes and had no education can support 300 children to go to school, imagine what you and I can do with the resources we have to bring about positive change in our world!